Dr Siân Harris

Research and background: 

My work spans a diverse range of twentieth and twenty-first century literatures, underpinned by the intersections of gender and genre (especially detective fiction), and driven by questions of culture, authorship, and identity. My doctoral thesis (Newcastle University, 2009) charted the significance of the 20th Century Canadian Künstlerroman in the fiction of L.M. Montgomery, Margaret Laurence and Alice Munro, highlighting ways in which Canada’s literary identity was constructed by women writers. I have also published on the work of A.S. Byatt, Marina Warner, and Ian Rankin. 

I joined the Department of English as Senior Lecturer in September 2017, and was promoted to Associate Professor in Literature and Learning in 2022. I previously held posts at the University of Exeter (Education & Scholarship Lecturer, 2011-2017) and Newcastle University (part-time tutor, 2005-2011).  

My career in higher education has always been on teaching focused contracts, and my role at Bristol is on Pathway 3. I maintain some active research interests that inform (and are invariably influenced by) my teaching practice. More recent projects include a journal article about regional identity and masculinity in popular culture, a chapter on my pedagogical approach to teaching detective fiction and film, and work in early progress that returns to L.M. Montgomery. 

Key areas: Twentieth- and twenty-first century literature; Canadian literature; women's writing; representations of authorship; gender and genre; detective fiction; historical fiction; adaptation; popular culture. 

Teaching and supervision: 

From 2017-2024 I served as the Director of Teaching in English, with responsibility for the successful organisation and delivery of undergraduate teaching across c.10 BA programmes, as well as planning future teaching and learning strategy. I led on the implementation and improvement of a new curriculum, increased contact hours, and steered the transition in and out of blended and digital learning necessitated from 2020. Working closely with colleagues and student representatives, I was also instrumental to programme improvement as part of the wider restructuring of the academic year (introduced 2024-25).

My teaching practice is committed to building a sense of community, supporting students to engage with complex and ambitious ideas, and cultivating undergraduate research and writing skills. I enjoy dissertation supervision and am happy to discuss ideas with current students on the BA or MA programmes. 

My Bristol teaching portfolio includes: American Revolutions; Approaches to Poetry; Celebrity Culture: Icons, Industry and Aesthetics; Concise Crime: The Short Story in Detective Fiction; Critical Issues; Literature 1900-present; Literature-Enslavement-Liberation; Literature’s Children; Reading Identities; The Gothic (MA); Introduction to Literary Research (MA). 

Contact:

Email: [email protected] 

Office: G.9, 3-5 Woodland Road